Sermon Notes for Pentecost Sunday

The Purpose of Pentecost
John 15:26-27; 16:4-15
Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2009

I. The Spirit Anticipated in Promise
A. Fire on the Mountain
B. Breath in the Valley
C. Glory in the Temple

II. The Spirit Arriving in Power

A. Revealing the Son – Fire on the Mountain
· As at Sinai, God comes down to transform us and make us his own covenant People
· “Who Proceeds from the Father…” – Nicene Creed
· Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice makes possible our union with him. It is the arrival of the Holy Spirit that actualizes this work of Christ in our lives and in the world (Ephesians 1:3-18; Romans 8:1-28)
- Born of the Spirit
- Baptized in/with/by the Holy Spirit into the Body
· It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the resurrected and ascended Lord Jesus to us in life-changing power and grace

B. Enlivening the Church – Breath in the Valley
· “The Lord and Giver of Life…” – Nicene Creed
· It is the Holy Spirit who reveals Christ to the world by forming us to be the Body of Christ: bone to bone arising from death
· The Lord does not leave the newly formed body devoid of divine life: Genesis 2:7
1. The Glorious Presence of God overwhelms and penetrates every aspect our life, personally and congregationally
2. The Temple is only the Temple because God dwells therein
- The Ministry of the Word
- The Ministry of Sacraments
· John Calvin on Spirit, Word, and Sacrament: Wherefore, let it be a fixed point, that the office of the sacraments differs not from the word of God; and this is to hold forth and offer Christ to us, and, in him, the treasures of heavenly grace. They confer nothing, and avail nothing, if not received in faith, just as wine and oil, or any other liquor, however large the quantity which you pour out, will run away and perish unless there be an open vessel to receive it. When the vessel is not open, though it may be sprinkled all over, it will nevertheless remain entirely empty…They do not of themselves bestow any grace, but they announce and manifest it, and, like earnests and badges, give a ratification of the gifts which the divine liberality has bestowed upon us. The Holy Spirit, whom the sacraments do not bring promiscuously to all, but whom the Lord specially confers on his people, brings the gifts of God along with him, makes way for the sacraments, and causes them to bear fruit. But though we deny not that God, by the immediate agency of his Spirit, countenances his own ordinance, preventing the administration of the sacraments which he has instituted from being fruitless and vain, still we maintain that the internal grace of the Spirit, as it is distinct from the external ministration, ought to be viewed and considered separately. God, therefore, truly performs whatever he promises and figures by signs; nor are the signs without effect, for they prove that he is their true and faithful author (Institutes, Book IV. Ch.14).
- The Ministry of Gifts – we are an army not an audience!
- The Ministry of Mission: The Spirit is at work in the world (Jerusalem to Rome and Beyond)

C. Filling the Saint - Glory in the Temple
· Resurrection means a New Temple: John 2:18-22
· You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit: 2 Corinthians 6:16- 7:1
- True personally and congregationally
- Called to Truth
- Called to Holiness

Let us then say anew with fresh and fiery zeal, ‘Come Holy Spirit, reveal Christ to me and through your Church to the world; come Holy Spirit, renew and seal in me your many graces through the word and sacrament; come Holy Spirit, Lord of Life, and make me your living Temple, holy and pure.